Filling machines for filling, in particular for the pressure-filling of containers in the form of cans with liquid contents (for example beer, soft drinks etc.) are known in a variety of embodiments. Especially with filling machines with a high throughput (number of filled containers per unit of time), it is customary for the sealed contact between the filling element and the respective container that is arranged beneath a filling element on or at a container carrier to be achieved by lowering down onto the container a sealing tulip that is then in sealed contact with a seal against the edge of the opening of the container concerned, so creating a space that encloses the container opening and the dispensing opening of the filling element and that is sealed to the exterior.
The sealing tulip that is formed by an annular body is disposed on a portion of the filling element housing so as to be displaceable, parallel to a filling element axis, between a raised position and the lowered position. The displacement of the sealing tulip is preferably effected in a controlled manner by a controller formed, in particular, by control rods.
Filling machines that comprise a clean space that is separated from the environment and in which the actual filling of the containers takes place are known, in particular, for the ultra-pure filling of containers. In these machines, the filling elements extend in part at least into the clean space from a region where the purity requirements are less stringent. More particularly, the controllers are mechanically actuated by an actuating device outside the clean space, whereas the sealing tulip that is to be moved is inside the clean space. It is therefore necessary for the controllers to extend from the region where the purity requirements are less stringent into the clean space, i.e. to penetrate the interface between these regions. The separation between these two regions can be compromised by the presence of these penetrations.